Device for stopping skein reel at a predetermined position and drawing skein yarn ends



Oct. 21, 1969 H|DEO TAKA] ErAL 3,473,747

DEVICE FOR STOPPING SKEIN REEL AT A PREDETERMINED POSITION AND DRAWING SKEIN YARN ENDS Filed Dec. 28, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 H ELCTROMA6NTIC COUNTERS ELECTROMAGNETIC COUNTERS /,$W/TcH/4 F G. 5 gl Psmaw/o 3,473,747 POSITION Oct. 21, 1969 H1050 TAKAI EI'AL DEVICE FOR STOPPING SKEIN REEL AT A PREDETERMINED AND DRAWING SKEIN YARN ENDS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 28. 1967 United States Patent 3,473,747 DEVICE FOR STOPPING SKEW REEL AT A PRE- DlETEIRMINED POSITION AND DRAWHJG SKEIN YARN ENDS Hideo Takai, Shigeru Hayashi, and Yoshihn'o Sarto, Fun: shi, Japan, assignors to Asahi Kasei Kogyo Kahushlln Kaisha, Osaka, Japan, a corporation of Japan Filed Dec. 28, 1967, Ser. No. 694,225 Claims priority, application Japan, Dec. 30, 1966, 41/ 85,907 Int. Cl. B6511 54/56 U.S. Cl. 242-53 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A device for stopping a skeim reel in a predetermined position including two electromagnetic counters for actuating a brake and a stopper to stop the skein reel upon counting a prescribed number and angle of rotation of said skein reel and means for drawing the starting and terminal ends of the yarn to the outside of the skein including a yarn guide carrying rod interposed between the skein reel and a traversing guide and an electromagnet to cause displacement of said rod, said electromagnet being energized by a signal from one of said electromagnetic counters or from a timer.

The present invention relates to a reeling machine in which improvements are made so as to reduce drastically the labor required in the operation of lacing a yarn mass or skein formed by said reeling machine by a string by the use of the automatic lacing apparatus disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 3,323,189 to the present applicant.

In lacing a yarn mass or skein by a string heretofore, it has been necessary prior to the lacing operation to stop the skein reel, with the skein of a predetermined number of turns of a yarn formed thereon, in a position most convenient for the lacing operation. However, in most of the conventional reeling machines of the type in which the number of rotations of the skein reel to obtain a desired skein is controlled by a mechanical counter, it has been impossible to stop the skein reel in a desired position accurately due to the inherent characteristic of the mechanism, the stopping position of the skein reel varying within the range of a circumferential angle of about plus or minus 90 degrees. Therefore, it has been customary that the skein reel, after having been brought to a halt, is manually rotated by the operator to a prescribed position prior to the lacing operation. In this light, use of a reeling machine which will enable the manual operation, as described above, to be carried out mechanically and automatically, would be quite effective in reducing the amount of labor required in the lacing operation even when the lacing operation is performed by manual means. The effectiveness of such a reeling machine would be more remarkable when the lacing operation is carried out by an automatic lacing machine having been available heretofore, particularly by the one which is disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. patent.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a reeling machine which is provided with means for carrying out the skein reel positioning operation mechanically and automatically without resorting to manual labor.

In the automatic lacing apparatus according to U.S. Patent No. 3,323,189, a yarn mass is laced by a string by a method which comprises the steps of disposing said lacing string in tension below said yarn mass, forming at least three small loops on the starting end of said lacing string, on one side of the yarn mass by hooking said lacing string by a needle which has at its lower end an openable latch-hook or bearded-hook and is caused to make a vertical swinging movement by a crank mechanism, penetrating said needle through said yarn mass to engage it with said lacing string and drawing said lacing string to form a large loop or loops in a number corresponding to a desired number of sections of said yarn mass, and again forming at least three small loops on the lacing string On the other side of the yarn mass. In operating the apparatus described above, if the starting end and the terminal end of the yarn are passed through said small loops on the opposite sides of the yarn mass, it will be possible to tightly bound said starting and terminal ends of the yarn by the respective loops of the lacing string and the so-called knotting operation can be eliminated completely.

In order to achieve this mechanically, it will be necessary to dispose only the starting and terminal end portions of the skein forming yarn at substantially right angles to the respective end portions of the lacing string on the opposite sides of the yarn mass where the small loops of the lacing string are to be formed by the latch-hook or bearded-hook carrying needle.

It is, therefore, another object of the present invention to provide a reeling machine which is provided with means for enabling the starting and terminal ends of the skein forming yarn to be tightly bound by the lacing string in the manner described above and thereby entirely eliminating the need for a knotting operation.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a reeling machine provided with the device of this invention;

FIGS. 2-a and 2b respectively are side views illustrating the operation of the stopper means shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a developed view of a skein formed by the reeling machine shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the time schedule for the operation of the reeling machine according to this invention; and

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic electrical circuit of the elements of the reeling machine.

Referring to FIG. 1, a skein reel 12 of the conventional type is mounted on a drive shaft 22. The drive shaft 22 also has fixedly mounted thereon an eccentric disc I having a step formed in the peripheral wall thereof. Arranged in confronting relation to the peripheral wall of and extending radially of the eccentric disc 1 is a stopped 2 which at a predetermined time is projected by the magnetic force of a solenoid 3 to be in pressure contact with the peripheral wall of said eccentric disc 1 and finally engages the aforesaid step in the peripheral wall of the eccentric disc 1 to stop the drive shaft 22 at a predetermined position. The number of rotations of the skein reel 12 is counted by a first electromagnetic counter 4 and the number counted by the electromagnetic counter 4 is detected by a second electromagnetic counter 4' so precisely as in terms of degree of rotational angle of said disc. Between the electromagnetic counters 4 and 4' is interposed a disc 6 which is also fixedly mounted on the drive shaft 22 and carries thereon magnetic elements 5 and 5' such that, as the disc 6 rotates, the magnetic elements" 5 and 5 pass in front of the respective electromagnetic counters 4 and 4', whereby the number of rotations of the skein reel is counted by said counters. Reference numeral 10 designates yarn end drawing guides carried on a yarn guide supporting rod 11. The yarn guide supporting rod 11 is operated by a solenoid 7 by way of a lever 9. A spring 8 is provided to effect return movement of said yarn guide supported rod, which has one end connected to one end of said yarn guide supporting rod and the other end to a machine frame. In FIGURE 1, reference numeral 13 designates an electromagnetic brake, 14 a main switch, 15 a timer which is adapted to emit a signal to cause displacement of the yarn guide supporting rod 11, 16 a traversing guide, 17 a traversing mechanism of a known type, and 23 a motor to drive the drive shaft 22 through pulleys 18, 19, 20 and 21. The manner in which the stopper 2 is brought into engagement with the eccentric disc 1 upon actuation of the solenoid 3 is illustrated in FIGS. 2-a and 2-b.

FIG. 3 shows, in a developed state, the skein formed by the reeling machine according to this invention, wherein reference character P designates a point at which the starting end 25-S of the skein forming yarn 25 is fixed to the skein reel 12 and 25-E designates the terminal end of the yarn. This figure shows an embodiment in which the skein 25 is to be laced at two locations represented by the lines L-L and LL'. Reference character 1 designates the point at which the starting end 25-S and the terminal end 25-E of the skein yarn are to be bound by small loops of a lacing string, and the line MM, outside the skein, represents a line in which the starting end 25-8 and the terminal end 25-E of the skein yarn are to be disposed.

In describing the operation of the reeling machine of the construction described above, the manner in which the skein reel is brought to a halt in a prescribed position will be described first of all. When the main switch 14 is placed in an ON-position, the motor 23 is actuated and the drive of the motor is transmitted to the drive shaft 22 through the pulleys 18, 19, 2t) and 21, causing said drive shaft to rotate. Accordingly, the disc 6 on the drive shaft 22 is rotated, with the magnetic element on said disc passing in front of the magnetic sensing portion of the first electromagnetic counter 4, whereby the number of rotation of the skein reel 12 is counted by said electromagnetic counter.

When the number of rotations counted by the electromangetic counter 4 has reached a prescribed value, a signal is emitted and the current supply to the motor 23 is interrupted in response to the signal, placing the second electromagnetic counter 4' in a state ready for counting. The skein reel 12 continues to rotate due to inertia even after the current supply to the motor 23 is interrupted and the rate of rotation decreases progressively. The number of such inertial rotations of the skein reel is counted by the second electromagnetic counter 4' so precisely as in terms of degree of rotational angle of the skein reel.

When the rotational angle of the skein reel counted by the second electromagnetic counter 4 has reached a prescribed value, a signal is emitted by said counter, indicating the completion of counting. Upon receiving the signal, the brake 13 is actuated and the solenoid 3 is energized causing the stopper 2, in the position shown in FIG. 2-a, to project into pressure contact with the peripheral Wall of the eccentric disc 1. In this case, the skein reel 12 continues to rotate through just a small angle against the braking force of the brake 13 and finally the step formed in the peripheral wall of the eccentric disc 1 is brought into engagement with the stopper 2 in the manner shown in FIG. 2-b, whereby the skein reel 12 is forcibly stopped in a predetermined position.

The angle through which the skein reel 12 rotates in the period from the time when the signal is emitted from the second electromagnetic counter 4' to the time when the skein reel is brought to a halt, must be smaller than 360 degrees in any event, and such angle can be controlled optionally by controlling the number and angle of inertial rotation of the skein reel 12 from the time when the current supply to the motor 23 is interrupted by the signal from the first electromagnetic counter 4 to the time when the brake 13 is actuated by the signal from the second electromagnetic counter 4'. Namely, the skein reel 12 can be stopped at a desired position by actuating the brake 13 when the rate of inertial rotation is still high or has been lowered, or by adjusting the braking force or the brake 13. The brake 13 may be omitted where the variation in the retardation characteristic of the inertial rotation of the skein reel is small. The mechanism for stopping the skein reel, which will be used when stopping of the skein reel is necessitated by the breakage of the skein forming yarn or for the mounting of a new yarn supply bobbin, or for any other purpose than removing a completed skein from the skein reel, and the mechanism for resetting the electromagnetic counters and for causing movement of the stopper, does not constitute the essential pars of the present invention and therefore will not be described herein.

Now, the manner in which the ends of the yarn are drawn to the outside of the skein will be described. Before the reeling machine is set in motion, the solenoid 7 is not energized and accordingly the yarn guides 10 and the lever 9 are held in the positions indicated by the solid lines in FIG. 1 by the biasing force of the spring 8. When the skein reel 12 is rotated under this state, the yarn is guided by the right side wall of the yarn guide 10 as viewed in FIG. 1 in contact therewith and therefore is trailed on the skein reel 10 at a portion rightwardly of the skein forming region, as indicated by the line MM FIG. 3.

When the main switch 14 is placed in an ON-position after fixing the starting end of the skein forming yarn at the point P in FIG. 3, the skein reel 12 is rotated taking up the yarn thereon. In this case, the timer 15 is also set in operation as it is electrically connected to the main switch 1. The timer 15 is previously set for such a period that the starting end portion of the yarn will be trailed from the point P to a point P via the point during said set period of time. When the starting end portion of the yarn has been trailed to as far as the point P the period of time set by the timer 15 is expired and a signal is emitted to the solenoid 7. Upon receiving the signal, the solenoid 7 is energized and thereby the yarn guide supporting rod 11 is displaced to the left by way of the lever 9 against the tension of the spring 8 and accordingly the yarn guide 10 is displaced to the position indicated by the dotted line in FIG. 1. The angle of rotation of the skein reel 12 during the period from the starting of the yarn winding to the displacement of the yarn guide supporting rod 11 must be smaller than that corresponding to the circumferential distance from the point P to the line LL' but preferably greater than 60 degrees. The angle must be smaller than degrees when the skein is desired to be laced at two places.

Thereafter, the yarn is wound on the skein reel 12 in the ordinary manner while being traversed by the traversing guide 16, and a skein is formed on the skein reel in the region shown in FIG. 3 because the yarn guide 10 is held in the displaced position throughout the period of the winding operation.

During the skein forming operation, the number of rotation of the skein reel 12 is counetd by the first electromagnetic counter 4 and upon completion of rotation of the skein reel of a prescribed number, the angle of inertial rotation of the skein reel is counted by the second electromagnetic counter 4', as described previously. When the angle of inertial rotation has reached a prescribed value. the solenoid 7 is deenergized in response to a signal from the second electromagentic counter 4'. As a result, the yarn guide supporting rod 11 is retracted to the right by the tension of the spring 8, carrying the yarn guide 19 into the original solid line position, whereby the yarn is drawn to the right as viewed in FIG. 1. The' skein reel 12 is brought to a halt by the stopper 2 as described previously, after rotating inertially for a short period of time. In this case, the time when the yarn guide 10 has completed the return movement to the original, that is the point at which the yarn has been drawn to the point P-, in FIG. 3, must be below the line L'L'. Such timing can be obtained precisely by adjusting the position of the magnetic element 5' on the disc 6.

Although the mechanism for stopping the skein reel in a predetermined position and the mechanism for drawing the starting and terminal ends of the skein yarn have been escribed separately, these mechanisms in the actual reeling machine cooperate with each other in prescribed timed relation as illustrated in the time schedule of FIG. 4. In the time schedule of FIG. 4, the blocks indicating various functions are arranged from the top to bottom of the sheet on which the time schedule is printed, in accordance with the order in which said respective functions take place and the solid line arrows indicate the electric signals, while the dotted line arrows indicate continuation of the associated functions.

According to the present invention, as described in detail hereinabove, it is possible to stop the skein reel in a predetermined position automatically with high precision and to draw the starting and terminal ends of the skein yarn automatically to predetermined positions convenient for the lacing operation. Therefore, the reeling machine of this invention is of great industrial advantage. Also by the use of the inventive reeling machine in combination with an automatic lacing machine, there is brought about the advantage that the labor required in the lacing operation can, be reduced drastically.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for driving the ends of a skein forming yarn and stopping the skein reel on which the skein is formed in a predetermined position in a reeling machine, said device comprising a combination of first means for drawing the starting end and the terminal end of the skein forming yarn on either side of the skein forming region on the skein reel and second means for stopping the skein reel in the predetermined position and cooperating with said first means, said first means including a displaceable rod carrying a yarn guide thereon and disposed between the skein reel and a traversing guide, an electromagnet to cause displacement of said yarn guide carrying rod and a timer; said second means including an electromagnetic counter adapted to count the number of rotations of the skein reel and upon counting a predetermined number of rotations to interrupt power supply to a drive motor of the reeling machine to let the skein reel rotate under inertia force, a brake for said skein reel, stopper means for halting the skein reel in a predetermined position, and another electromagnetic counter adapted to detect the angle of inertial rotation of the skein reel and when the angle has reached a prescribed value to emit a signal to actuate said brake to apply a braking force on the skein reel and to actuate said stopper means to stop the skein reel in said predetermined position; said electromagnet being energized by a signal from said timer at the initial stage of the skein forming operation and being deenergized by a signal from said second electromagnetic counter at the end of the skein forming operation.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,983,984 5/1961 Handzel 242-53 X NATHAN L. MINTZ, Primary Examiner 

